


Paper Wings

by WakingNightmares



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Brainwashing, Death, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Past Child Abuse, Post-Story, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture, Torture, Violence, road to redemption
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24015421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakingNightmares/pseuds/WakingNightmares
Summary: They both thought that walking away from that ledge on the mountain would be the hardest part.They were both wrong.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	Paper Wings

Kassandra wasn’t sure what drew her from her slumber; Gods knew it wasn’t because she didn’t need the sleep. She’d been up for almost two full days, trying to finish cleaning up the mess the war had left behind, and she was absolutely exhausted.Even the Blood of Leonidas couldn’t stave off exhaustion forever, and she’d collapsed on her bed before Myrinne had finished cooking dinner.

So to say she was… annoyed… at being awake was an understatement. But something had woken her, and she hadn’t survived her childhood on Kephallonia by ignoring her instincts. So she pulled herself from her bed, grabbing her daggers from beneath her pillow as she quietly stalked out of her room.

She checked on Nikolaos and Myrinne first, opening the door silently, and peering in enough to see her parents were still asleep. The steady rise and fall of their chests below the blankets was something of a comfort, although she was honest enough with herself to admit she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about Nikolaos and her mother resuming their relationship again.

She closed the door just as silently, and made her way to Alexios’s room, her bare feet making no noise as she crossed the house. She was much more cautious as she opened the door to her brother’s room; the slightest noise was apt to wake him, and more than once he’d nearly killed members of the family by accident, years of nightmarish brutality making themselves known.

But to her surprise, as she cracked the door open, she found the lamp still burning, the oil low on the small table by the bed.

“Alexios?” She said quietly, taking the chance to step into his room.

He sat on the bed, staring at his sword laid across his lap, wrapped in nothing more than his underclothes.

Luckily, Kassandra had gotten better at hiding her reactions; Alexios’s scarred body horrified her, and the first time she’d seen her brother without his armor, she’d nearly thrown up everything she’d eaten, holding it in through sheer force of will alone. The sheer number, covering his entire body from head to toe, had been bad enough; the fact many of them trailed down his chest and back to disappear under his undergarments worse. That she couldn’t even tell how most of them had been made had been unbearable.

But now, she was able to keep her face straight, even in the face of the terrible proof of the tragedy her brother had lived.

She moved slowly across the room, kneeling down on her haunches to be eye level with Alexios, careful to give him his space. They sat like that, in silence, for what seemed an eternity, before Alexios finally looked up at her.

“There’s so much blood, Kassandra,” He said quietly, despair filling his voice. “So much blood.”

She nodded slowly. “I know, Alexios. We’ve both spilled enough blood to fill the ocean between us.”

He shook his head. “It’s not the same, sister, and you know it as well as I. You killed to protect yourself and your family; you spilled blood in _war_ , in battle. I… I _slaughtered_ innocents. Killed thousands to try and sate my bloodlust. To ease the pain I felt, to try and fill the rage that threatened to consume me. We… We are not the same. You are a hero, Kassandra,” He said, giving her a soft smile as he reached out, putting his scarred and calloused hand on her face. “The Savior of Sparta, the Mistios with the heart of gold. While I… I am Deimos. Terror given physical form. Rage and hatred incarnate. The monster _maters_ tell their children to scare them into behaving.”

“Perhaps that is what Deimos was; I cannot speak for Deimos. But that isn’t Alexios; it isn’t you, brother,” She said firmly.

He scoffed quietly, pulling his hand away. “I have been Alexios for mere months, Kassandra; I was Deimos for twenty years. I fear…” He went quiet for a few moments, before finally speaking again. “I fear that there isn’t enough Alexios to keep Deimos at bay,” He whispered, giving her a small, sad smile.

Kassandra sighed, standing up and offering him her hand. He stared at it for a moment, before setting his sword on the bed, and grasping it firmly. She helped him to his feet, and motioned towards his tunic.

“Put that on.”

“Where are we going?” Despite the clear question in his words, his tone had no inflection.

“Not far. Come.”

He obeyed, slipping the tunic over his head before following her out of the house. She gave him a slight grin, before grabbing onto the trellis, and scampering onto the roof with ease. When she turned to look down, he was standing there, looking up at her in confusion.

“Well? Come on,” She said with an eye roll. “Don’t make me stand up here by myself.”

Silently, he obeyed; where she had climbed, he simply jumped, grabbing the edge of the roof, and pulled himself up behind her. She motioned for him to follow her towards the back, moving softly as to not displace any of the ceramic tiles. When she reached the edge, overlooking the sea, she sat, patting the area next to her. Still silent, Alexios sat.

“Do you know, when you were a baby, I used to sneak you from your crib, and bring you up here at night with me? You were such a fussy baby; even when you slept, you’d cry out softly. The only time you slept peacefully was here, in this very spot, cradled in my arms. I’d stay awake as long as I could; I can’t count how many times _mater_ found us up here, both of us asleep, under the stars.”

“I’m surprised we didn’t fall to our deaths sooner then,” He commented dryly, staring out at the stars over the ocean.

Kassandra chuckled. “The house was smaller then; the roof was flat. And I always held you tightly, even while I slept.” She was quiet for a few minutes, trying to gather her thoughts. “I swore to the Gods, the first time I looked at you, swaddled in _mater’s_ arms, that I would always protect you. I tried… That night, when they came for you… I fought like a wild thing, Alexios; I grabbed one of _mater’s_ knives, and I slashed and stabbed, but it… It wasn’t enough. They dragged all of us to that damned mountain; it was tradition, that the family had to watch, or the gods wouldn’t bless the sacrifice, they said.” She spit over the edge angrily. “As if the Gods care about us. The elders started chanting; _mater_ was screaming. Pleading with Nikolaos not to do it. I could hear you crying, and I… I broke free of the man holding me. I tried to run to you, tried to grab you. But… I tripped. I had no shoes, and the rocks… I stumbled, and shoved the elder over the edge as he dropped you. I reached for you; tried to grab you. It was like the entire world had gone silent; _mater_ said later that the Gods themselves must have heard her screaming as her entire world shattered around her. But I do not know; I heard nothing. _Saw_ nothing but the white blanket that held you fluttering to the rocks below. And as Nikolaos threw me over… All I could think was that it was only fitting; I’d failed my vow. I prayed that the Gods would accept my life, to spare yours.”

When she was finished, she glanced over at Alexios, who was still staring into the distance. They sat, silently, for what seemed an eternity.

“I wish I had died,” Alexios said finally. “I wish my brains had splattered all over those fucking rocks. All of Greece would have been better off.”

“Don’t say that, Alexios; please,” Kassandra begged quietly. “Because _I_ would not have been better off. And I’m selfish enough to admit that I do not give a horse’s ass about the rest of Greece. To find out you were alive… It was the greatest moment of my life, Alexios. Do not ever doubt that.”

“Even knowing who I was? What I was doing?” He asked quietly, still not looking at her. “With everything you knew I had done? Do not lie to me, sister: there must have been numerous times when you thought about killing me yourself, to end the plague I was to the world.”

“ _Never_!” She said harshly. “I knew, somewhere inside you, was my brother. The person I loved most in the entire world. I would have struck down the Gods themselves before I killed you, Alexios. When I realized what the Cult had done… what they had done to you, to turn you into Deimos… I wept for you. I wept for the boy you were, and I wept for the lost man you’d become. Each… Each cultist I killed… They would tell me, laughing, what they had done to you. How they had tortured you until you knew nothing but pain. How they had broken you down, and then rebuilt you as a monster.

“And then I would kill them. I had never felt true hatred, Alexios, until that moment, when the first one told me what he had done to you. In that second, I felt a rage so strong that the Gods themselves would’ve trembled before me. And I killed him. Slowly. But the rage remained. The hunger for vengeance remained. These were the people who had stolen you away from us, and they dared to laugh as I appeared before them. I made them eat their laughter, Alexios. Every last one of them died screaming in agony.

“I know it is not enough,” She finished quietly. “I know that no matter how much blood I spilt for you, no matter how many of those _fucking_ snakes I killed, nothing can change what happened to you, Alexios. But that is what I did for you. To free you from their grasp, I would have faced down Hades himself. Do not ever doubt how far I will go to protect you, little brother.”

Alexios, to her surprise, chuckled. “I know you would, Kassandra. But the truth of the matter is… I do not deserve it. You should have killed me then, when you first realized who I was. It would have been a kindness. For both of us.”

“But I am not a kind person, Alexios; I never have been. You see us as different, brother, but I tell you now: we are not that different. You, at least, had a reason for the monster you were. People view me as a hero because of what I did, but they don’t know me, Alexios. They don’t know what I’ve done. Out of the two of us… I am far more monstrous than you ever were. I would have burned all of Greece to the foundations to save you and _mater_. I would have slaughtered every man, woman, and child, and danced on their corpses to have you returned to me. Even in your worst moments… You did what you did for a higher cause. A false cause, to be sure,” She added. “But a cause nonetheless. A greater purpose. I did what I did because I am selfish. Once I realized you were alive, I couldn’t rest again until you returned to us. To me.”

Alexios was silent for a time, before he finally looked at her. “I think I am tired now, Kassandra. Can we go in?”

She nodded. “Whatever you wish, brother. Always.”


End file.
